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(No Model.) I {Sheets-Sheet 1. F. MEYER & R. LL COMMONS.

WIRE CQILING MACHINE.

No. 550,991; Patented Dec. 10,1895.

ANDREW EGZAHAM. PHUTB-LITNQWASNINGI'UEQQ N0 Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 2.

P. MEYER & R. L. G0.MMON$. WIRE GOILING MACHINE.

ANDREW EJiBANAM. ?ND,TD-LITHO.WASHINGTON, D C,

(No Model.) 4 SheetsSheet 3. F. MEYER & R. L. COMMONS.

WIRE COILING MA SHINE.

- ANDREW EJJRANAM,PNOYO-LIIHQWASHINmlhQ MOQGL) 4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

1-". MEYER & R. L. COMMONS. I WIRE GOILING MAGHINE.

No. 550,991. Patented Dec. 10,1895,

W M, a I. [WW-v 1, I memjmnmw.

NlTE STAT S T FFICE.

FREDERICK MEYER AND ROBERT L. COMMONS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNORS OF ONE-THIRD TO KOLBEN JOHNSON, OF SAME PLACE.

WIRE-COILING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 550,991, dated December 89 Application filed March 18, 1893. Renewed M... 11, 1995. Serial No. 548,992. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, FREDERICK MEYER and ROBERT L. COMMONS, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in \Vire-CoilingMachines; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention has for its object to provide improvements in Wire-coiling machines, one of which improvements is the adaptation of a single machine to the production of coils of various forms, sizes, and pitch, including open conical coils or double conical coils, such as are used for bed-springs.

The nature of the improvements Will be understood from the accompanying drawings, which illustrate our invention in 'a practical form, together with certain modifications in some of the elements thereof.

Figure 1 in said drawings is a side elevation of a complete machine. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the machine shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an end view of the machine of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is an end view corresponding with that shown in Fig. 3 with the parts concerned in severing the coils omitted. Fig. 5 is avertical section in the line 5 5 of Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a side elevation of portions of the machine, showing a coil-cutter of different construction from that shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, and also a somewhat different construction of the wire guiding and bending devices. Fig. '7 is a plan View of the modified constructions shown in Fig. 6. Fig. 8 is a front elevation of the coil-forming devices shown in Figs. 6 and 7. Fig. 9 is a front view of the cutters shown in Figs. 6 and 7. Fig. 10 is'an enlarged front view of further modifications in the coil-forming devices. Fig. 11 is a plan section of the construction shown in Fig. 10, taken on line 11 11 of said figure. Fig. 12 is a vertical section in the line 12 12 of Fig. 10, the wire-feeding heads and parts of the shafts carrying them being shown-inside elevation. Figs. 13 and 14. are respectively front and side views "of an attachment desirably employed in making open springs,

either cylindric or conical.

A represents the machine-bed, having secured thereto uprights A, A and A B is a shaft mounted in bearings a a in the uprights A A and projecting through an opening in the upright A, beyond which it is provided with a head or extremity B, having a circumferential groove 5. Said shaft B is also supported in the upright A by resting in a surface bearing in a cross-bar a (Represented in dotted lines in Fig. 4 and other figures and seen in section in Figs. 5 and 12.) The shaft B extends beyond the bearing a, where it is provided with a driving-pulley, and between the bearings a and a it is further provided with a worm b and a pinion 6?. V

B is a second shaft arranged above the shaft B and desirably at an inclination thereto, as shown in Figs. 1 and5, and having its principal be'aring'at a in the upright A as seen in Figs. 1 and 2. Said shaft B extends forwardly over the end of the shaft B, where it also has a head B, provided with a circumferential groove 1), which coincides with the corresponding groove in the shaft B, the surfaces of the two shafts or' of their heads B proximating each other and the coincident grooves therein forming a passage-way between them for the wire to be coiled. The free end of the shaft B is pressed down and held to its work by a movable superposed bearing-block a, mounted to slide vertically in the slotted upright A, and adjustable vertically by the adjusting-screw a The shaft B projects back of its bearing a where it is provided with a pinion b that meshes with the pinion Z2 on the shaft B.

At each side of the grooved ends or heads B B of the shafts B B are placed wire-guides, serving, also, as wire-benders, so that a wire fed over them, by being clamped between the rotating heads B B, will be bent upwardly and so coiled.

C is the wire-guide on the entering side of the feeding-heads B, and C the guide and bender on the opposite side of said heads. As here illustrated, these guides are vertically movable, so as to adapt them to produce coils of diiferent diameters, or, if moved while the coil is being made, to produce a coil of differing diameter in its different parts. The wire guide and bender C on the emerging side of the wire-feeding heads is also shown to be adjustable toward and from the coilingshafts, and in some figures of the drawings it is also shown as verticallyadjustable with reference to the opposite guide. Both said guides are shown in all figures of the drawings containing them as being mounted 011 a single movable support C This support C is preferably an arm pivoted at one of its ends upon a pivot 12, attached to the machine-frame, and beneath its opposite or free end is arranged a suitable adjusting device. Such adjusting device, as shown in Fig. 10, consists of a simple screw 0', threaded vertically into the bed of the machine, and therefore adapted to hold the pivoted arm C fixedly at any desired elevation.

In Figs. 1, 2, 4c, 5, and (3 the adjusting device is shown as the end of a centrally-pivoted lever D. This lever, having its fulcrum at (Z, projects rearwardly toward a point opposite the worm l), where its rear arm (1 is engaged by a cam E, secured upon a shaft E, which has a pinion c engaged with said worm. The rotation of the cam-shaft E therefore results in the slow raising and depressing of the wire-guides C C in the operation of forming a coil, with the obvious effect of making the coil of different diameters in its different parts.

Describing the wire guides or benders more particularly, the guide O is shown as an upwardly and laterally extended arm having a groove 0 in its upper surface, through which groove the wire to be coiled passes to the feeding-heads B B from an overhead reel. As shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4, said wire guide and bender C is rigidly secured to the vibratory arm 0 but as shown in Figs. 6, 7, 8, 10, and 11 it is pivoted to said vibratory arm 011 a pivot 0 transverse to the arm. Vhen so pivoted, it is adapted to be retracted to facilitate the insertion of the end of a wire between the coiling-heads, and after such insertion of the wire it will be lifted to its working position and secured in any suitable manner. The means for so securing it consists, as shown in the drawings, of a latch c, provided with a hook at its end, which engages a suitable surface on the arm G as incheated by dotted lines at c in Figs. 8 and 10. The latch is or may be made to automatically engage by means of a spring 0, placed under the upper arm of the latch, as shown most clearly in Fig. 8.

The wire-bender O is a block having a groove 0 upon its upper surface arranged opposite the grooves of the feeding-heads B B, the gaid groove 0 being in line with that of the opposite guide 0 or inclined thereto, as may be desired or as called for by the pitch or closeness of the coil to be formed. Different blocks 0, having the'r grooves at differout inclinations, may be provided, so that by the substitution of one block for another more or less open or close coils may be formed thereby. The block O is desirably adjustable toward and from the feeding-heads l5, and it is so shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 4, wherein it is held to the arm 0 by screws (either vertical, as shown in Figs. and 4, or horizontal, as shown in Figs. 10 and 11,) an adj ustin g-screw 0 being provided to bear against the block to move and hold it when the holding-screws are loosened. In Fig. 10 the block C is both horizontally and vertically adj ustable with respect to the arm C being connected with the said bar through the medium of an arm 0 which is pivoted at c and is supported by an adjusting screw 0', that rises beneath its free end through the bar 0 In Fig. 8 said block 0 has only a vertical adjustment, being rigidly attached to the pivoted arm 0 of which it forms or may form an integral part, and is supported by the adjusting-screw 0*, as in Fig. 10. If the bottom surface of the groove 0 in said block be curved downwardly at the end of the block which proximates the feeding-heads, this single vertical adjustment of said block, as shown in Fig. 8, will measurably take the place of the horizontal adjustment provided for in other figures or of the horizontal and vertical adjustments shown in some of said figures.

The device for cutting off the coils at given intervals in the operation of the machine may be variously constructed. As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, it consists of a pair of cutters F F, the former of which is fixed in front of the coiling devices and the latter of which is mounted on the end of a vibrating lever F This lever is connected with a bell-crank G by a preferably extensible rod F, pivoted at its ends to the lever and bell-crank. Periodic motion is given to the bell-crank G and through it to the cutters by means of a proj ection H, (in the nature of an arm,) mounted on the shaft E, which projection rises beneath the arm g of the bell-crank and tilts the same forwardly, finally passing it and allowing it to retract. The retraction of the parts moved by this projection II is effected,

in the construction shown in Figs. 1 and 2, by a spring H.

In the construction of the cutting mechanism shown in Figs. 6 and 7 the movable cutter F is mounted on an arm f of a rock-shaft F to which is secured a lever G, that extends backward into engagement with the projection II on the shaft E. The rock-shaft, with its knife-carrying arm f and its lever G, answers, essentially, to the bell-crank G of Figs. 1 and 2, but extended and arranged to directly carry the movable knife instead of operating it through intermediate devices. The retracting-spring H in this modified construction is seen plainly in Fig. 6, and 71 in both Figs. 1 and 6, is an adjustable stop limiting the retractive movement of the cutter F.

In the operation of the machine above de- I scribed the wire-feeding heads B B bypressing firmly upon the wire embraced between them in their coincident grooves draw the same forward over the guide 0 and push it forward over the guide and bender C, the elevation of these guides and benders, and especially of the bender C, obviouslydetermining the degree of bend given to the wire in forming the coil, and consequently the diameter of the coil. At the same time the lateral inclination of the groove 0 in the bender-block 0 determines the pitch of the coils. When the supporting-arm C of the benders is stationary, the spring or series of coils formed will be of uniform diameter, as indicated in Figs. 10, 11, and 12, while if the said supporting-arm C be raised and lowered during the operation of forming a series of coils the diameter of the spring produced will vary in different parts of its length, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Hence the machine is adapted to form either coils of uniform diameter or a series of reversed cones. The dotted lines in Figs. 1 and 2 show one half of a double-reversed conical bed-spring, the benders being in said figures at their highest elevation and the individual coil, which is at this moment being made, being the smallest in the spring. In the advance of the machine said benders will be lowered and the coils will be gradually increased in diameter, as they have been just previously diminished,thus forming two cones with their apices joined. In the absence of cutting-off devices there will be formed a series of reversed cones joined alternately at their bases and apices. The cutters are shown to be so arranged in position and to be so timed as to sever the wire in the largest coils and therefore to form the familiar bed-spring indicated and known as the double-cone spring, in which the ends are larger than the middle. These cutters may, of course, be otherwise timed to make either a shorter spring or a longer one, or to make cylindric springs of any desired length. Said cutters may also be entirely disused, if desired, and a continuous coil of any length and degree of closeness or openness produced.

The device shown in Figs. 13 and 14 consists of a transversely-arranged plate I, supported, preferably, on the bender-supporting arm 0 and in its most effective form provided with a winding front face 1, outside or in front of which the wire of an open coil passes after leaving the bender C. It serves to give a spreading or forwardly bending action upon the coiled wire, giving the coils a more uniform pitch and correcting the irregularities in this particular which are apt to arise in its absence from unequal density in diiferent parts of the wire.

As a means of varying the range of vertical movement of the benders, the lever D is shown as having its fulcrum d movable with respect to the benders and the actuating-cam E, said fulcrum-pivot being supported on a base-piece d which may be set and secured upon the main bed of the machine at a greater or lessdistance from the actuating cam-shaft E by means of the holding-screws (1 passing through slots (Z in the said base-piece d.

The grooved heads B B, applied to the converging ends of the shafts B though shown as conical, may obviously be of other formas, for example, by narrowing their circumferential surfaces or reducing their di ameter at the opposite sides of the grooves, when their effective surfaces with reference to the wire will still remain the same. The conical form is preferable, as giving mutual support in the absence of a wire. Said heads may also be made integral with the shafts or detachable and changeable. The latter construction (indicated in Fig. 12) is preferable for obvious reasons.

We wish it to be understood that the following several claims apply to those features of our invention which are specified therein and are adapted to be used without others not therein expressed, and that the omission of parts not necessary to a given operation does not constitute-a departure from the invention.

We also wish it to be understood that various modifications and changes may be made in the construction of the machine without departure from the invention.

We claim as our invention 1. In a wire-coiling machine, the combination, with rotary wire feeding devices, of a ver tically movable bender support C and a wire bender O adjustably secured to said support, substantially as described.

2. In a wire coiling machine, the combination, with rotary wire feeding devices, of a vertically movable bender support 0 means for automatically giving to the latter rising and falling movements during the operation of coiling, and a wire bender C adjustably secured to said support, substantially as described.

3. In a wire coiling machine, the combination, with rotary wire feeders, of a vertically movable bender support 0 and an obliquely grooved bender block 0 adj ustably connected with the support, substantially as described.

4:. In a wire coiling machine, the combination, with wire feeding devices, of a vertically movable support, automatic means for giving vertical movement to said support during the operation of coiling, a wire guide connected with said support for directing the wire to the feeding devices, and a wire bender C adjustably connected with said support, substantially as described.

5. In combination with a wire feeding device and a vertically movable bender support, two wire benders arranged one on each side of the feeders and connected with said support.

6. In combination with the wire feeders and the vertically movable wire bender support 0 the wire guide 0 pivoted to the bender support and provided with a latch device for holding it in working position.

7. The combination, with wire feeding devices, of a 'ertically movable bender support, a wire bender arranged upon said support at the side of the feeders from which the wire emerges, means for adjusting said bender upon the support both vertically and horizontally in the plane of the wire, and mechanism for raising the bender support during the operation of making a coil.

8. In combination with the rotating shaft B provided with a pinion and a worm, a relatively inclined shaft 13 also provided with a pinion meshing with that upon the shaft 13, I the said shaft 13 forming with the shaft B a wire-feeding device, a vertically movable arm 1 or bar O benders mounted upon said arm on 1 opposite sides of the wire-feeding portions of the shafts B B a lever D arranged beneath the bender support O and a transverse shaft E provided with a spur engaged with the i worm on the shaft 13 and also provided withi a cam engaging the lever D, substantially as described. f

9. The combination, with a worm shaft Bi and a relatively inclined shaft B geared there- 1 with and forming a wire feeder, substantially as described, of the bender support O carrying benders on opposite sides of the wire-feeding portions of said shafts, a cam shaft E rotated by the worm an d provided with a cam E and with a projection H, a lever D engaged with the bender support and with the cam E, and cutters actuated by the projection H.

10. In combination with a wire feeder and a vertically movable bender support and a cam E, the centrally pivoted lever D adapted to have sliding engagement with both the bender support and the cam, and a movable part carrying the central fulcrum pin of said lever, substantially as described.

11. In combination with a wire-feeding device and a wire-bending device together arranged and adapted to produce conical coils, a spreader consisting of a plate arranged immediately in front of and adj aeent to the said coil-forming devices and provided with a broad oblique or winding face arranged to bear against the emerging coil in a direction generally parallel with its axis, substantially as described.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing as our invention we affix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

FREDERICK MEYER. ROBERT L. COMMONS.

Vitnesses:

M. E. DAYTON, ALBERT l-I. GRAVES. 

